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Well, that's better, 200 feet above the desert, face to face with the tomb of Darius. There's a lengthy inscription describing his benevolent rule, but it's the depiction of Darius himself that's so intriguing.
There's one thing that you can see from up here, which you just couldn't spot from down below. It's that Darius is carrying a bow. The bowman would have been an image familiar to all Persians. They'd have known precisely what it meant, which is why Darius chose it as the symbol of his kingship. To the Persians, the archer was symbolic not just of military prowess but of wisdom, leadership. The good archer had a sense of balance and control, qualities that were central to the concept of kingship developed by Darius. Darius, the archer, there you have it, the first ever political logo. And having invented the political logo, Darius went one better. He discovered a new way to communicate it to his subjects. Leaders throughout history would profit from his genius.
Darius had unified a disparate empire, one of the world's great civilizations. For 150 years after his death, his successors continued to use his logo and to build on his achievements. But it was destined, not to last, because someone on the western fringes of the empire had his sights on Persepolis. He was Alexander the Great. Alexander was a brilliant military strategist. In just a few short years, he defeated the Persian armies and captured the city. But that was just the start of his ambitions. Alexander wanted much more than simply to conquer. He needed a way of uniting the Persian Empire behind him. |